Sheng Peng: It's About Execution, Not Desperation; Goaltending Woes; Schilling thoughts Thoughts on last night's disappointing loss to the Islanders...goaltending is still an issue for LA...and can Schilling help the Kings?

Goal tending is absolutely an issue. Our goal tending has not been horrible, but more untimely with soft goals that have impact our teams confidence and momentum.

As far as the trade is concerned I do not have enough Intel on our new D.

I do however feel that a move has to be made if we are going to push for another run at the cup. What that move is I can only assume it would have to be a solid forward with some skill and a big presence like Milan, things would be different this year if we have been able to keep him.

I 100% believe that the team needs to take this year off and draft well. Make trades that may or may not need to happen. But do some Chicago type poop. Loyalty didnt get you 2 championships. Loyalty is pushing the team further away from being a championship team. Allow this year to be a wash. I think honestly that after this year that Sutter and DeanO both might be gone. Both could be back. I think Sutter walks before Dean does. We really need a decent draft while having some of the talent we do have.

I 100% believe that the team needs to take this year off and draft well. Make trades that may or may not need to happen. But do some Chicago type poop. Loyalty didnt get you 2 championships. Loyalty is pushing the team further away from being a championship team. Allow this year to be a wash. I think honestly that after this year that Sutter and DeanO both might be gone. Both could be back. I think Sutter walks before Dean does. We really need a decent draft while having some of the talent we do have.
- poisondhearts37

You do need a good draft, but how much time are you willing to let the talent develop? This Kings team isnt the same as the ones that won the cups....your missing effective versions of Richards, Brown amd Stoll, you could find those kinds of players quite easily, especially this spring with the expansion draft looming if you wanted to load up.

You do need a good draft, but how much time are you willing to let the talent develop? This Kings team isnt the same as the ones that won the cups....your missing effective versions of Richards, Brown amd Stoll, you could find those kinds of players quite easily, especially this spring with the expansion draft looming if you wanted to load up.
- Larsson_fan

With every draft comes the hope of the one player who just makes the team. Or simply obtaining more assests to make better trades for a better year.

With every draft comes the hope of the one player who just makes the team. Or simply obtaining more assests to make better trades for a better year.
- poisondhearts37

I guess LA is nearing the crossroads. They have some philosophical options...

1. Load up now and make a run.
2. Sell off whomever they don t see being a long term contributer for picks and prospects while keeping the majority of the core intact, and hope for a quick rebound in 2-3 years while Kopitar ,Doughty, Carter and Quick can still play at an elite level.
3. Scorched earth rebuild around Pearson ,Tofoli and Mostlikely Doughty. Load up on max returns for Kopitar, Quick, etc..

Personally, I would do option 1 now, and maybe next year, but then there may be little choice but to explore option 3 in a couple years if the plan goes south.

Option 2 might work but theres always the risk the team might end up like Carolina post cup , or Vancouver today.

I guess LA is nearing the crossroads. They have some philosophical options...

1. Load up now and make a run.
2. Sell off whomever they don t see being a long term contributer for picks and prospects while keeping the majority of the core intact, and hope for a quick rebound in 2-3 years while Kopitar ,Doughty, Carter and Quick can still play at an elite level.
3. Scorched earth rebuild around Pearson ,Tofoli and Mostlikely Doughty. Load up on max returns for Kopitar, Quick, etc..

Personally, I would do option 1 now, and maybe next year, but then there may be little choice but to explore option 3 in a couple years if the plan goes south.

Option 2 might work but theres always the risk the team might end up like Carolina post cup , or Vancouver today.
- Larsson_fan

they've tried 1 and that's why the cupboard is beyond bare, with a glut of bottom 6 forwards and developmental mostly left shot defense. 2 only works if they find another taker for gaborik and brown, and their only hope at this point is probably LV.

if they opt for 3, it extends to carter (great cap hit vs production) and likely kopi (are you really going to find a better replacement 1C?)

they've tried 1 and that's why the cupboard is beyond bare, with a glut of bottom 6 forwards and developmental mostly left shot defense. 2 only works if they find another taker for gaborik and brown, and their only hope at this point is probably LV.

if they opt for 3, it extends to carter (great cap hit vs production) and likely kopi (are you really going to find a better replacement 1C?)
- hiway39

No,you're not, the only concern is age once the picks and prospects develop. If the Kings can extend their window into the next decade it will be very impressive.

Learned something this morning.
I did not know about the AHL veteran rule. That was a good explanation.

You will like Schilling. He actually looked pretty good in the Hawks pre-season. The Hawks are pretty deep on D prospects on the farm so he must have become expendable under this rule.

No,you're not, the only concern is age once the picks and prospects develop. If the Kings can extend their window into the next decade it will be very impressive.
- Larsson_fan

yeah, the hope is that kopi can age gracefully like joe thornton, who has remarkable durability at his age. he won't be worth $10m halfway through the deal, but it was necessary to keep him under the circumstances.

as for prospects developing, i'm not sure the current squad would sell off to the point where you can restock the shelves. its going to take patience and more hits than misses in the draft. its great to find gems like martinez, ladue, or undrafted free agents like with muzzin, but not when you keep dealing first rounders or reach for thomas hickey and colten teubert when you do have one...need more impact players on offense.

I thought Schilling's skating last night was a lot more than adequate, I thought it was excellent. He looked very good paired with LoVerde for someone who flew across the country and made it to the Arena 10 minutes before the team cut-off time. Of course he is a 28 year old pro, but for ONT's depth, an excellent acquisition will bolster ONT's chances for a deep playoff run if they can get healthy.

I thought Schilling's skating last night was a lot more than adequate, I thought it was excellent. He looked very good paired with LoVerde for someone who flew across the country and made it to the Arena 10 minutes before the team cut-off time. Of course he is a 28 year old pro, but for ONT's depth, an excellent acquisition will bolster ONT's chances for a deep playoff run if they can get healthy.
- Regulate

That's probably helped by the fact that they were also a D pair in college. Hopefully they can keep them together in Ontario as well.

I 100% believe that the team needs to take this year off and draft well.
- poisondhearts37

I could see them doing this, betting on Quick's return and Kopi's revival, hoping Carter has another year in him, and seeing if any money gets freed up after expansion draft. Not that they're giving up on this season, but "all-in" is for next year.

Learned something this morning.
I did not know about the AHL veteran rule. That was a good explanation.
- 67hawks

Thanks!

I thought Schilling's skating last night was a lot more than adequate, I thought it was excellent.
- Regulate

He did look good last night, maybe I undersold him here. Was judging based on some of his NHL appearances.

With Anze Kopiturd, Dusturd Brown, and Marion Turdorick there will be no playoffs.

Looking back doesn't help because it's past December and Sutter hasn't been replaced and the Kings still don't have a true #1 available to take them all the way.

yeah, the hope is that kopi can age gracefully like joe thornton, who has remarkable durability at his age. he won't be worth $10m halfway through the deal, but it was necessary to keep him under the circumstances.

as for prospects developing, i'm not sure the current squad would sell off to the point where you can restock the shelves. its going to take patience and more hits than misses in the draft. its great to find gems like martinez, ladue, or undrafted free agents like with muzzin, but not when you keep dealing first rounders or reach for thomas hickey and colten teubert when you do have one...need more impact players on offense.
- hiway39

Im glad you pointed out more hits than misses at the draft. If you read the comments in the Sabres,Leafs and Arizona, even Edmonton threads , fans always put a NHL guarantee on 1st rounders,when it really isnt.

Anyone can write an article about stats. But what about the pulse of the players?

Carter is right on, we are in desperation mode. He has the balls to say it.
Carter is the only King in any interview that says bluntly whats up, while the
others say 150 words of non-sense, never having any good answer, the pulse, or the beating heart of the Kings players. The team needs new jump, spark and some passion.

The Kings top PAID players NEED to execute better, they are not earning
their money at all except Carter, that meaning... being Elite in the NHL.

The team never replaced: Richards, Voynov, Stoll, Mitchell, Williams, Jones.
That's 2 solid Centers, 2 solid D, and a winger, and a good back up goalie.
Most all proven leaders except Voynov and Jones, but both were good players.

This season we added: Seto?, Purcell?, Gilbert?, Zatkoff? WTF
Add from previous season: Lucic(good, but got screwed draft picks and he did not resign) Schenn?, Erhoff?, Lecavalier(good but retired), Versteeg?, Enroth?
Add from previous season: Sekera(decent, but got screwed draft picks and he did not resign), McNabb (still here, unbelievable!! why tho), Regher (retired).
Add from the last Cup season, these guys didn't last and were gone: Carcillo, Fratin, and Scrivens(who did decent as a back up was traded). We acquired Gaborik which was good for the Cup run. Throw in a random, Jeff Schultz, Jamie McBain sighting.

I mean please see above for your own DL assessment. Other teams passed us up.
Our draft picks are questionable at this point. See teams like Chicago, Pittsburgh.

The team is not getting better or keeping up with the league, that's DL's fault.
This old school out of touch current coaching system is DS's fault & DL's fault.
The players currently drafted that are in the teams bottom 6 are NOT good enough, and past their expiration date, DL's fault.
The player band-aid fillers he acquires are 90% horrible and DLs' fault.
The few contracts strapping the teams cap is fully DL's fault.
This ALL should have been addressed right after we won the 2nd cup.

How much longer do we need to look at: Dowd, Shore, Andreoff, Clifford,
DwKing, Nolan, Lewis, Greene, Forbort & Gravel? Are they that good?

I am hoping for some moves or something good to happen soon
other than mediocrity over and over with $63mil invested in a .500 team.

Wake up DL

To be honest, I don't really see the point of comparing 2011-12 to this year, since the coaching change had a lot to do with that turnaround and no such change is going to happen this season. If you really want to compare a Cup season, it should be 2013-14, when they were under Sutter all season and won in the end. What was their record at this point in that season? Was it similar and did they have a second half that was much better than their first half? I honestly don't remember.

OK, I just found the information. At this point in 2013-14, they were 27-14-5 (good for 8th-most points in the league). That's a lot better than the 22-20-4 that they have now, so that's not comparable. In fact, looking further, this is the worst record that they've had at this point in any of the full seasons under Sutter. The next closest was 2014-15, when they had 20-14-12 and 52pts (to their current 48pts), and that's the one year that they missed the playoffs. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, but there are more historical reasons to be concerned than optimistic here (at least if we're talking about more than simply making the playoffs).

http://www.hockey-referen..._month=0&order_by=year_id

Zatkoff and McNaab are making sure NYR wins this game. #hockeyIQ

Zatkoff and McNaab are making sure NYR wins this game. #hockeyIQ
- MikeOxbyg

Zatkoff single handedly is keeping Kings out of playoffs. I expect a loss everytime he's out there. Goals come way to easily for this guy. You can blame scoring woes too but the kings do just fine with budaj in net.

Zatkoff single handedly is keeping Kings out of playoffs. I expect a loss everytime he's out there. Goals come way to easily for this guy. You can blame scoring woes too but the kings do just fine with budaj in net.
- KINGS67

We would have won this game if Zatkoff makes the proper play to Martinez behind the net and if McNaab puts his pass on Shore's tape rather than drilling it off his skate

Better backup goalie than Zatkoff...

Watching the replay of the 2014 Finals game 5 makes me really miss quick and. voynov

Im glad you pointed out more hits than misses at the draft. If you read the comments in the Sabres,Leafs and Arizona, even Edmonton threads , fans always put a NHL guarantee on 1st rounders,when it really isnt.
- Larsson_fan

credit where credit is due, but still, there's a reason why players are taken in the first round, because they have a higher probability for success and a higher ceiling of ability. sure there are exceptions, plenty of them, but not nearly enough to say you dont have to ever hit on your first round picks (or have them to begin with). the organizational depth (or lack thereof) speaks for itself at this point.

another way to supplement is to strengthen european scouting and try to take players from KHL or other leagues in the Panarin, Donskoi or Radulov type of mold to help fill in the gaps. if they're buying lottery tickets with guys like trotman, gilbert, purcell, etc already, why not?

Goal tending is absolutely an issue. Our goal tending has not been horrible, but more untimely with soft goals that have impact our teams confidence and momentum.

As far as the trade is concerned I do not have enough Intel on our new D.

I do however feel that a move has to be made if we are going to push for another run at the cup. What that move is I can only assume it would have to be a solid forward with some skill and a big presence like Milan, things would be different this year if we have been able to keep him.
- Kingsfanyme

Quick not due back until early March at the earliest.